My first GIF
I am trying to be a sports journalist. What I continue to learn, for better or worse, is that that isn’t enough. In the digital age, you can’t just be a reporter, you must also be a content creator.
I’ve seen job descriptions for what seem like basic reporting jobs, which mention skills like Photoshop are considered a plus. I’ve even seen job postings that ask you to be proficient in Snapchat.
So some of the best internet sports media people possess the ability to make GIFs: GIFs of fans looking stupid, GIFs of baseball players falling down, GIFs showing how a wide receiver got so wide open.
You’ve used the internet; you don’t need me to explain the reasons to make GIFs.
This has been a problem for me, as I’ve never learned how. I’ve wanted to make GIFs before:
We need a GIF of sad caddy walking barefoot through the river to get the ball. #PGA
— Mitch Goldich (@mitchgoldich) August 9, 2014
But my relationship with GIFs has always been one sided. I consume, but don’t contribute.
Except I’m working on a story now that I thought would be better with GIFs embedded in the post, so I decided I should finally figure out how to do it. Luckily, it turns out it’s not that hard. And hey, as an added bonus, I can put it on the skills section of my resume.
All I had to do was pick a moment and get started.
When my alma mater Lehigh upset Duke in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, CBS caught a quick clip of me shortly after the final buzzer. I was only on screen for 1.8 seconds, but seemingly everyone I knew saw it and immediately called or texted. A screenshot of that moment has uninterruptedly been my Facebook profile picture for the last two and a half years.
But this is the internet, so no moment truly exists until it’s in GIF form. Fortunately now this one is:
